Make sure no poop get stuck and dries up around their vents. Sometimes poop will stick to the down around their vent blocking it and then they can't excrete proper. If that happens, dont panic. Just get some warm water in a bowl, put on some latex gloves, and gently soak the vent and the accumulated waste there until it gets soft and comes off. Then dry of the chick and he's good as new! I've had that happen every now and then. Usually the chick that's got it will be beeping loudly.

Thanks for the tip! That is something that was mentioned on the care sheet that TSC gave me. I have been keeping an eye out for it and fortunately haven't encountered it so far. They haven't attempted to roost on anything yet, but they seem to be getting curious, pecking at this and that. They are definitely getting to be fun to watch.

Oh yes i agree with you on that one. When i had had free time i liked to get up to them without them knowing I was there and watch them. They are real cute and fun to watch. Especially when they stretch.

The chicks are continuing to do well. I've been hand feeding them some small pieces of bread as a treat to try to get them accustomed to me, so they aren't so scared of me. They are already getting bigger and I don't think this tub is going to be big enough for them for much longer. The one has just discovered it has wings is already attempting to roost on the food and water containers. I did put a dowel across the bin about 5-6" high for them to try to roost on if they feel like.

Do you have a screen of some type on the top of the bin? You'll be amazed by how quickly they can fly.
The biggest thing I've learned about chickens is how curious they are. Initially they might be scared by something, but very quickly they'll come to check it out. When I built the run for mine I felt like I had a dozen little supervisors.

Yep I've since added a piece of wire fencing so they don't get too carried away trying to fly. I've also added an actual thermometer. Their wings are actually quite big and they have some pretty good feathers coming in now.

You are doing a great job, I always put them straight into the chips, never been a problem. Also, the big metal feeder bins are great to hold them as well, they grow very quickly so get going on the coop.

You are doing a great job, I always put them straight into the chips, never been a problem. Also, the big metal feeder bins are great to hold them as well, they grow very quickly so get going on the coop.

Thanks, I picked up some material for the coop today. It should only take me a couple hours to put together. I got a larger brooder bin for them today, this one has approximately twice the floor space. It's a 50 gallon vs the old 25 gallon. The seem to REALLY enjoy the extra space. All three are now trying to fly a little bit, they are interacting with each other and moving a lot more with the extra space. It'll probably be only be big enough for another week to week and a half but they seem very happy right now.

I haven't completely decided yet. If I have a chance to get back up to TSC before they run out I will. If not, I think these three will do okay just by themselves. TSC is about an hour away so it's a two hour round trip minimum, which makes it a little inconvenient.

So I had to go up towards the tractor supply today anyways to run some errands and since I was up there I decided to stop and get another bag of food and a couple more chicks.

They are in the bin and seem to be going along with the others just fine. Interestingly, the one new chick is a little bigger than my other 3, and the other new chick is a little smaller the other 3. The smaller one has gone off by itself a few times and slept but a tap on the box and it wakes right up and goes with the others. I think it's fine but I'll have to watch him a little closer. You can see he's off by himself in this picture but a second later he was with the others.

Thanks I'm glad I got them too. The smaller one seems to have pretty much joined the group now. I set their feeder and water bottle up on some square pieces of 2x4 so they don't make a mess out of them so quickly. They can still reach them just fine. The larger of the two new birds seems to have an affinity for digging, and buried the feeder a couple times. At least one of the birds has been roosting on the small piece of plastic pipe I have running across the bin. It usually will sit there until one of the others pecks at it's feet. I tried to feed them some shaved carrots and they didn't care for them. Any other ideas for treats besides bread? I know they sell mealworms as a treat but bugs gross me out (I'll shamelessly admit it, I'm a wuss with bugs).

The flock has expanded I see. Nice to hear they're doing well. As to treats, I stayed pretty much with chick feed till they got a couple months, as I was always concerned with something triggering diarrhea. No medical knowledge behind that, just how I raise mine.

Look how big these birds are getting! They are actually beginning to resemble full grown chickens. Today I made a little temporary pen for them in the garage out of some old wire fencing so that they could get out of a bin for the first time in their lives.

They weren't too sure what to do in there, they pooped some, tried some flying and stretching their wings, pecked at the concrete floor and bit, and it was going well until about 15 minutes in, one figured out that if he sucked his gut in, he could squeeze out of the fence! The others then had to follow, and soon I had 5 runaway chickens on the loose in the garage. Hilarity ensued as the chickens ran from me while I grabbing as many as I could and putting them back in their bin. After a couple minutes, I got them all back in the bin. They were a little panicked but calmed down pretty quickly.

The one thing they can't seem to get past is their fear of being handled. They have no problem eating bread out of my hand, and they don't care if I walk right up to the bin and kneel down, but they are absolutely petrified of being held. Even if I can get one to calm down while I'm holding it, it won't eat while being held and seems scared. Any ideas?

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